Article by
Katrina King

Published on
September 10, 2018

The two Deacons, St Michael men known as Soup and X were remembered fondly in the community Monday as “respectful”, “mannerly”, and “good” fellows who did not deserve to meet gruesome deaths in rural Jamaica last week.

But residents speaking to Barbados TODAY declined to identify themselves as they revealed their reminiscences about the two men, gunned down in Jamaica’s southeastern parish of St Thomas.

The bodies of 27-year-old Dario Soup Yearwood and 37-year-old Daniel X Griffiths were discovered partially burnt with gunshot wounds in a bushy area.

Arriving in Kingston last Wednesday, the duo were due to check into the Four Seasons Hotel in Kingston but never made it there.

Immigration officials used identification cards found on the dead men to confirm they were Barbadian nationals.

The Deacons neighbourhood where both individuals grew up has been jolted by the news of the disturbing deaths.

A Redman’s Road neighbour who requested anonymity, told Barbados TODAY that she raised Yearwood like her own. While a pupil of Deacons Primary School, the patter of his young feet could often be heard throughout her house, the distraught resident said as she relived the moment she received news of his death.

Although he moved across the street to nearby Fernihurst, Yearwood remained in contact with friends and family in the neighbourhood, said the resident who recalled that the last she saw of Yearwood was when he dropped in to check on her and her family the day before flying to Jamaica.

“Dario was very respectful and mannerly. Dario was always in this house from the time he was small and he always continued to look for me,” she said, still expressing disbelief at this death.

“Dario is everything a mother would want in a child and the people from this neighbourhood can testify that,” she said.

As they limed on the “Red Sea” block, known to police and criminal justice officials for its rampant gang activity, his friends said they were deeply saddened and upset about the deaths of X and Soup.

Another individual who asked to remain anonymous told Barbados TODAY that Griffiths, a father of two, was a ‘good fellow’ who was always willing to lend a helping hand.

“Anybody could have gotten anything from Daniel, you could be in a slump and ask him for something [and] he would give to you . . . . Daniel would give you anything without even thinking twice about it,” said the resident.

One of the individuals gathered was extremely troubled by the circumstances surrounding their death.

“They didn’t deserve to get shoot so, none of the two of them. They get treat real dread for nothing,” said the Deacon’s, St Michael man who revealed that a number of guys on the block were disturbed by the news. He went on to describe Yearwood as a charismatic personality who easily made friends.

“(Yearwood) does just catch people spirit; people just like the man and I mean all kind of people. There is something about Soup that people were just . . . attracted to,” he said.

Jamaican detectives were continuing their murder probe after retrieving the bodies of Yearwood and Griffiths in a bushy area in the St Thomas village of Woodbourne.

A villager who had gone to tend to his cattle stumbled upon the bodies in the bush, a Jamaican radio report said.

There were gunshot wounds to the head and side of one victim and a bullet wound to the upper body of the other.

Woodbourne residents told police that they had heard gunfire in the area on Wednesday just after 1 p.m., the radio report added.katrinaking@barbadostoday.bb

Regardless of the way they carried their lives but why would we accuse without any evidence or show no respect to the grieving families. Do we lost so much respect for life and even in death that in this moment when no one knows what happened, we could make such harsh statements giving their family no closer or if they have kids,.. we do not know what happened and should refrain from hearsay.

Two lives taken in tragic circumstances many assumptions but no hardcore proof why they were killed, was it a random kidnap/robbery, were drugs involved, was it a case of a business deal gone wrong,who knows.

It’s really nice to see that the commenters ( including me ) so far are really saddened by the unfortunate death of these two Barbadian men.

The only a** hole commenter on the board is Johnny Crow- Kotex. In all respect the other individuals with the first name Johnny , this johnny crow d**k head first name denotes exactly who he really is.